Stanford on iTunes

If I can find half a reason to mention Stanford University on my blog I will (my time at Stanford CSP had a profound and positive impact on my professional life).

Stanford has recently set up shop on iTunes and will provide school related podcasts, including "faculty lectures, interviews, music and sports".

Brilliant.

Yahoo! wants more of your cash

"Yahoo Inc. is doubling the price of its online music subscription service for portable MP3 players, ending a short-lived promotion..." More

That's $120 per year for music you don't actually own. Sure it's better than Napster To Go's $14.95/month, but it's still at the wrong price point. I'm sure there's at least ten good reasons why $50/year won't make the accountants happy, but there are at least 50 acceptable reasons why it would get Y!, Napster, Real etc. more subscribers.

Needless to say, the price is a mute point as long as the (portable/"to go") sub's services don't work with the iPod.

Will Apple offer a subs service? I'm sure they will. Will it have a smarter pricing strategy? That you can bank on. And Cupertino probably won't jack the price by 100% after a few months either. Promotion or no promotion.

An eye for an "i"

Stuart Goldenberg's illustration to David Pogue's October 18 NYT story on the video iPod is brilliant in its simplicity. Go Stuart!

Stormy weather

Right now we're experiencing an amazing lightning/thunder storm over our house in Phoenix. The sound of the rain, wind and hail (about the size of small marbles) is defening. Every 10 seconds the sky goes white from the lightning. Beautiful, and overwhelming. I shot this video on my Treo 650. It's about 2 minutes long and has some nice lightning flashes in it. It doesn't do the storm "justice" but it's still quite cool.

VeriSign + Moreover

It's all true and confirmed.

Now, one may wonder, is the next step for the new VeriSign/Moreover/Weblogs.com unit?

orvet.gada.be

orvet.gada.be

"orvet" on Chris Pirillo's new meta search engine Gada.be. Just for fun.

Fletcher drops the week

The brilliant PodCheck Weekly Review is now PodCheck Review. Scott Fletcher has also launched a new visual design for the site.

Subscribe. Now. PCR is one of the better podcasts out there.

Exciting

Yesterday I wrote that I'm not very excited by Flock. A few people asked the natural question - what am I excited about?

Well let me tell you... Joyent is one thing (go check them out), Writeboard another. Actually, Writeboard proved usefull for our business on the first day of its release.

What do you think is exciting in the world of smart tech right now ("web 2.0" or not)? Let me know.

Done deal

I'd barey published my last post on this when the (confirmed) good news came in... "Consumers using the Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger programs will be able to exchange instant messages, see the presence of their contacts, share emoticons and add friends from either service, the companies said. Interoperability is expected to kick in during the second quarter of 2006."

The deal will certainly be a challenge for AOL/AIM and Google's recent entry on to the scene with Talk. But two down, two to go ain't half bad for us users. This will mean a new level of simplicity and efficiency of communication for everyone that rely on these two IM services, including the Orvet Digital network.

Why does this happen now? Well the afformentioned Google Talk and their wish to connect to other networks is one huge reason, Skype another. There is competition/pressure coming from all sides, including the IM Federation.

There's no time like the present.

Yahoo, Microsoft in IM deal?

"Microsoft and Yahoo are close to a pact that would allow users of their respective instant messaging services to exchange messages with one another"

This is music to my ears. I've been asking for IM interoperability for years and years. I look forward to hearing the details of the deal.

In 2003 Yahoo indicated that interop might be part of a premium, paid, service. Needless to say it would be a huge misstake to go down that route today. Let's wait and see what they say, the two company's press conference should have started by now.

SiliconBeat's Open Web 2.0 Thread

Matt and Michael over at SiliconBeat have started a open thread about the Web 2.0 conference. Add your comment, or see what others have to say.

Flock it

I'm supposed to be really, REALLY excited about Flock. That's what several people have told me.

But I'm not.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but a "social browser" that snuggles up to Flickr, del.icio.us etc doesn't float my boat. And I don't think it's very "Web 2.0" (as the same people are claiming, plus a whole bunch of "experts") because I don't see the huge value, the improved practice, the evolution. And I can't help but wonder where the money is going to come from, something that not too many people have asked about ( Mike Rundle being an exception).

I don't want to give Flock flack just for the heck of it. But with the type of hype and money they've received, and with what I see as a lack of a solid USP, they really have to deliver. Big BIG time.

If I end up being wrong, and Flock rocks us all, I'll be the first to admit it. I like being pleasantly surprised, and wish the Flock team the best of luck.

iPodfeber

Brilliant web entrepreneur and developer Roger Åberg has done it again. His growing mini publishing empire of relevant, well written and highly attractive blogs has spawned yet a new "feverish" blog - iPodfeber ("feber" is Swedish for "fever").

Focused on... well iPod's obvioulsy... it joins Åberg's other must-read blogs Macfeber (easily the jewel of the fever crown), Prylfeber (gadgets), Bilfeber (cars), Spelfeber (gaming) and Reklamfeber (advertising).

If you ever needed a reason to learn Swedish, this is it!

Disclaimer: I have contributed to Roger's blogs in the past and will proudly do so in the future.

Time differences

I just switched time zones in my Blogger settings (from London to Phoenix, AZ) and I noticed that the time stamps on some of the older posts here on the main page also changed. Oh well, we'll live with it until we switch to Typepad.

Google Reads RSS

They are a little late to the party, but Google finally has a RSS reader of its own. Called Google Reader it was launched at Web 2.0 earlier today (as spotted over at SiliconBeat).

First impressions are ok, the reader is a bit slow and clunky but it gets a thumbs up from me (at least until I test it properly).

Google has also added more content to its personalization options. Including a link to competitor Yahoo!. Maybe they do like each other after all.

PHX!

Yes! We have finally arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. After months of prep and weeks of packing we're finally in our new flat, and the bussinese's are up and running. More on all this exciting new stuff shortly (as soon as I've recovered from my cold...).

/J